Christmas Weekend

Such a wonderful Christmas.  We are so very blessed and the girls have been very spoiled by all.

Christmas eve was spent with the Sarion Family.  They came over to our place, brought a feast, played with girls and kicked off the present opening.

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Roy

 

Digging into the gifts... Maya helped Laurel open all of hers.

Maya picked out cookies for Santa and apples for the Reindeer.

We woke up Christmas morning, had a great family breakfast and then settled down to open more gifts.

Santa brought the green rain boots Maya asked for.

 Stockings!

Mid morning, we made our way down to celebrate with the Knowles family.  Had a great time playing with cousins, eating more great food, and of course, more presents.  Grammy was in town and it was so great to see her and the girls really enjoyed their Grammy hugs.

Overall a fantastic but exhausting holiday weekend.  We were happy to have Monday to recover and spent the day lazing around the house with zero obligations.  Maya slept in until 9:30, Laurel took two full two hour naps, we played with all of our new toys and had a family-movie-quiet-time in the middle of the afternoon. 

Merry Christmas!!

Pulling up...

And proud of it!

The Holiday Season

We have fully embraced the holidays this year and Maya is absolutely loving it.  She is obsessed with Christmas lights and loves driving around to look at the houses all lit up.  There is a house in our neighborhood that has decorated their house in true Griswold style which Maya has dubbed, "lotta lights".  She requests to drive by it every time we get in the car.  She met Santa, she didn't want to sit on his lap but gave a little wave from a safe distance.  She has asked Santa to bring her treats and a green present.  Jingle Bells is a new favorite song.

We kicked the season off by heading to the Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mtn Zoo.  Maya had such a fun time; she got to feed reindeer, wave at Santa, write a letter and put it in Santa's mailbox and listen to a Christmas story time.  Laurel slept through most of it :-)

Next we took advantage of a beautiful Seattle day and headed to the tree farm to pick out the perfect Christmas tree.



We made batches and batches of Christmas cookies.

And tonight we decorated the tree.  Maya caught on very quickly and strategically placed each ornament on the tree.  Laurel secured a spot under the tree and just stared up at all the lights!



8 months!!

Time is flying and Laurel is growing.  She and Maya are becoming great buddies and will often simply look at each other and start giggling. I love listening to them and watching them get excited when they see one another.

- She is sticking with the army crawl, although she occassionally gets up on hands and knees.  She is fast though and I often find myself wandering down the hallway to figure out where she has gone.  All this army crawling is giving her great upper body strength!

- She is starting to pull herself up and gets to about her knees.  She is just so curious that she pulls herself into all sorts of baskets and toy buckets and closets because she wants to see what is inside.

- She has started dancing along with music.  Which is so fun since one of Maya's favorite activities right now is to put on a dress to dance and spin around the room.  She loves that Laurel joins in on the fun.

Hugs

Story time

Sharing her love of books with her sister.  It is pretty cute to listen to Maya "read" to Laurel.  This book is about ducks and colors.  Each page Maya would say, "Ducky likes red", "Ducky likes blue" and so on.  She does get a bit frustrated that Laurel would prefer to eat the books!

Friends

Last night we were driving home after a great afternoon and evening with family.  It was dark out, we thought Maya was falling asleep because she was very quiet.  Out of nowhere she asks, "Mommy, are you my friend?" 

Yes, Maya, I am most certainly your friend.  I am also your Mommy and I love you with all my heart, more than I ever knew possible. 

And the seemingly random questions like this, really make me wonder about the thoughts that go through her head.  I'm certain she is much more insightful than we give her credit for.

Seven Months!!

 

One of the many differences between the two girls became very obvious to me when I took this picture.  Literally 30 seconds before I took this, Laurel was fussing and cranky because it was dinner time and she was hungry.  I pull out the camera and she immediately turns the fussing into a giant grin.   It is the exact opposite for Maya.  She can be giggling and grinning away and as soon as I pull out the camera her face becomes completely serious.  You have to catch her off guard to actually get a good smile.  I love that already they each have a distinct personality.

- Laurel is ALL OVER THE PLACE.  She has become so fast with her army crawl and if you put her on the floor she will not stay in one place for long.  She has been getting up on all fours, but hasn't figured out how to get anywhere that way so quickly gets back on her tummy.  If I need her to stay put, I sit her down, she hasn't yet figured out how to get down from that position.

- She is such an explorer and observer.  She is quite content to scoot around the room simply observing and touching each and every little thing.  She watches her big sister constantly and just likes to take everything in.  

- She is a great eater and has yet to refuse a new food.  She even likes peas!  So different for me, but it is nice to know that it wasn't me that made Maya a picky eater (I haven't done anything different this time around).

- She has become quite the babbler.  Mama mama and aba aba aba are her newest sounds.  Maya likes to talk back to Laurel by repeating every sound she makes.

- Someday she will sleep - right?!?!?!

Halloween Fun

We had such a fun Halloween this year.  One of the best thing about having kids is rediscovering fun traditions and celebrations as you see it through their eyes.  Maya had a great time picking out a "punkin", she chose her own costume and was so excited that people gave out chocolate when she said Trick or Treat.

We started things out with a trip to the pumpkin patch on a beautiful fall day -

Heading out to the pumpkin patch.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Pictures of the two of them together is near impossible!

 Hanging out at the fire pit with the family.

Then we carved pumpkins with Grandma and Grandpa Sarion and Uncle Roy -

A rare picture of the four of us.

Laurel was not impressed.

Once again, Maya wanted nothing to do with scooping out the guts, but here she is helping Daddy design the perfect "scary punkin".

Next came the Halloween parties and trick or treating - 

Our little rocket ship.  In the weeks before Halloween, Maya declared that she wanted to be a rocket ship (we have no idea where she came up with the idea).  No amount of convincing on my part would change her mind (I was not too keen on piecing together a rocket ship costume).  Luckily for her, Target had one all made and ready to go.  She LOVED it and I sure couldn't have made anything better.  She received a whole lot of compliments, although most people thought she was a boy!

Our little lion.

 The little cousins.  Clara had strong feelings about being a peapod and Callie needs to work on her hunting skills - the lion confiscated her bow in no time and started chomping on it.  Cute none-the-less.

First Haircut!



Poor thing

Laurel came down with pneumonia and a double ear infection this week.  She was pretty miserable and we spent a lot of time cuddling on the couch.  Luckily she is doing much better since we started the antibiotics and is quickly become her happy, smiley self. 



Love...

When Laurel is crying, Maya has started to comfort her by standing close and telling her, "It's Ok, Mommy's coming, Baby Laurel, Mommy's coming". 

Such a big heart.

6 Months!!

Six months old.  Craziness.  She is now 15lb 2 oz and staying right at 50%.  She is a good eater, I just wish she would eat more in the daytime hours and a little less in the middle of the night.  She seems to eat just enough at daycare to keep away the hunger and waits for me to fill up.  I'm tired. 

Sticking her tongue out at her sister who was trying to get her to laugh :-)

- We started rice cereal two weekends ago and she loves it.  She's also had sweet potatoes, carrots and pears.  She sits with us at the dinner table and is so happy to be a part of the whole routine.  Every bite she lets out a very happy "mmmm".  Even Maya helps out and gives her a couple spoonfuls throughout the meal.

- She has mastered sitting unsupported and really enjoys the upright world.  It is much easier to watch her big sister from the sitting position!

- She has started figuring out the army crawl and scoots herself all over the place.  Between that and the rolling, she rarely stays in one place.

- She has been in daycare for two months now and is doing great.  She gets lots of extra snuggles from one of her teachers because she reminds Miss Mary of her own children who are now grown. 

Huskies!

We scored four free tickets to the Husky game yesterday and decided we had nothing to lose and would attempt it with both kids.  We did a little tailgating before the game and then headed in.  Maya made it until half time at which point she declared that she was tired and it was time to go home.  She had a fun time watching the players through her binoculars, clapping and cheering for the team and loved that the whole family was wearing their purple Husky shirts.  Laurel slept through most of it :-)

Maya was even shown on the jumbo-tron for the whole stadium to see!

As fun as it was, I think we will opt for a babysitter next time.  If for no other reason than to avoid the frequent bathroom trips that come along with a newly potty trained toddler.  That was a bit exhausting!

The Puyallup Fair

Last weekend Maya and Bennett were invited to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They had a GREAT time.  And Laurel got to spend some quality time with us all by herself.  Then on Sunday, the entire Knowles clan met at the Puyallup Fair for an afternoon of fun.  It was a great weekend over all.

Grandma and Grandpa set up the tent so they could have an indoor campout.

Trying out the firefighter equipment at the fair.

Testing out the tractors.

The only ride Maya was able to go on... sadly is is too short for most of them and this was not a fun reality for her to face.  She was a trooper though and we were able to find a petting zoo to keep her happy.

Riding the carousel.  Last time she refused because the horses were, "too big".  This time she loved it!